TORONTO — Marcus Stroman pitched seven innings to win his first home start in more than a year, Justin Smoak had two RBIs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Friday night.
Stroman (2-0), who returned last Saturday after tearing knee ligaments in spring training, started at Rogers Centre for the first time since Sept. 8, 2014, when he tossed a three-hitter against the Chicago Cubs.
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WHO: Boston Red Sox (Miley 11-10) at Toronto Blue Jays (Dickey 10-11)
WHEN: 4:07 p.m. Saturday
TELEVISION: NESN
The right-hander, who beat the New York Yankees in his season debut last week, allowed one run and six hits. He is 8-2 with a 2.53 ERA in 16 career home games, including 12 starts.
Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion went 0 for 4, ending a club record of reaching base safely in 44 consecutive games
AL East-leading Toronto, which started play with a 3 1-2 game lead over the Yankees, opened the scoring in the third when Kevin Pillar hit a leadoff double, advanced on Cliff Pennington’s sacrifice and scored on Ben Revere’s groundout.
The Blue Jays made it 4-0 in the fourth. Jose Bautista walked, Encarnacion reached on a fielding error by third baseman Brock Holt and Smoak followed with a two-run double. One out later, Ryan Goins hit an RBI triple.
Boston’s lone run off Stroman came in the fifth. Rusney Castillo reached on a fielder’s choice, went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Blake Swihart’s single before scoring on an infield single by Josh Rutledge.
Toronto extended its lead to 6-1 in the sixth, which began with three straight singles by Smoak, Russell Martin and Goins. After Smoak was forced at the plate on Pillar fielder’s choice grounder, Martin scored on a wild pitch by Rick Porcello (8-13) and Pennington hit a sacrifice fly.
Porcello, who came in with a 7.36 ERA in five games at Rogers Centre, allowed six runs, five earned, and eight hits in six innings.
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